Familiar Stranger
by JAZZIES-GIRL
Summary: The love of her life died in the final battle but when a hot familiar stranger walks into her bookshop one day will she find love?


A/N: Okay, here's a new fic! It's my first oneshot so tell me what you think! I think it might become one of my best fics!** Disclaimer: NOT MINE! **P.S. HBP never happened!

If someone were to come up to me on the street a month ago and told me that I was going to meet the love of my life I would tell them to go check into St. Mungo's. The love of my life had died years ago during the final battle against Voldemort about a year ago. What's worse was that they never found his body so I never knew if he was at peace or not. Let me back up a little and start from where it all began.

About three weeks ago I was working at my bookshop when a pale stranger came in, soaking wet from the downpour that we had been getting for the past few days. The only reason I kept my shop open was because it was good business since Flourish and Blotts had closed until brighter weather.

Anyway, the stranger had a familiar look in his blue eyes and pale face but I couldn't place it. He had pitch black hair and stood at about six feet tall. He came in to the book store and gave me a polite smile. I turned away but I could feel his gaze lingering on me for just a bit longer than I felt comfortable with.

The stranger browsed through the sections before coming up to the counter empty handed.

"May I help you, sir?" I asked politely but he just stared into my eyes.

I shifted my gaze away and he said, "My apologies Miss, it's just that you remind me of someone I knew long ago. Actually, I could use your help, you see, I was going to go to dinner tomorrow with my mother but she has decided to take a sudden trip to the States so I'm left with another lonely night. Perhaps I could take you out to dinner instead?" He smiled and my conscience's started to argue with each other.

_You haven't been on a date in years; you need to get back out there._

_**But you don't even know him! Besides, you still love Draco, dead or alive!**_

_So what? He looks nice, and gorgeous for that matter!_

_**How can a person look nice? Besides, you always have dinner at the Weasley's on Fridays.**_

SHUT UP! I screamed inside my head. "Tomorrow night's not a good night for me." I said.

"Then I suppose we'll just have to go some other night." He smirked and it triggered a flow of memories.

_Fighting in the final battle beside Harry with Draco right behind me._

_Glaring at Draco in our first year._

_Punching Draco in our third year before Buckbeak was 'exterminated'._

_Ron trying to make Draco eat slugs but his wand backfired and he ended up belching them up instead._

_Harry dueling Draco at the Dueling Club with Lockhart in our second year._

Why do they all have to do with Draco? I asked myself and when I looked back at him there was something, a faint sparkle, in his eyes that looked alarmingly familiar.

"Are you related to…never mind." I walked out from behind the counter and started to ready everything for closing time.

"No, what were you going to say?" There was a very serious look on his face and it scared me. I hadn't seen a serious look on someone's face since the final battle when Draco was yelling at me to save myself.

"Don't laugh but," I paused and searched his blue eyes again. "Are you, by any chance, related to Draco Malfoy?" I asked while turning the ring that was on my pinky finger, the ring that Draco had given me the day before the final battle started.

The man visibly slouched and sighed. "Related? No, but I do know who you're talking about."

I searched his face again and something tickled the edge of my mind. Before I had a chance to draw that shy idea from the back of my mind the stranger turned away, uttered a quick farewell, and left the shop. The idea crept back into the shadows of my mind that had grown darker and covered more ever since they announced Draco missing or dead after the final battle.

Frowning, I locked the door and made my way upstairs to my kitchen to make myself a little dinner before heading to bed.

All the time while I was eating I tried to coax the idea out of the shadows by remembering the look on the stranger's face and reliving his reaction when I asked him my question.

Nothing was working so I changed and crawled into bed, hoping that by relaxing the idea would be a little less shy. I laid there for hours trying everything I could to get the shy little thing to come to me.

Slowly but surely it crawled out of the shadows but a knock at the bookshop door startled it and sent it running back to its dark, dusty corner.

I checked my clock before I made my way down the steps to see Ginny standing in the rain. I let her in and she immediately started going on and on about how Ron has finally found a girlfriend.

"Wait, who is Ron's girlfriend?" I asked, stopping her ramble.

"They met at a bar about a week ago and yesterday Ron brought her to the Burrow for dinner. She's so nice and I know that you'll just love her once you meet her! She really has changed a lot since you saw her last, honest!"

"Okay!" I said and took her by the shoulders. "But what's her name?"

"Oh, right, I suppose you'll want to know that, won't you?" Ginny was beating around the bush and that made me nervous. "It's, well, why don't I wait until you meet her?" I glared and Ginny turned Weasley red. "It's, uh, Marietta Edgecombe."

It took me a while to figure out why that name sounded familiar but then it struck me. She was the one who ratted on the DA Club in our fifth year. "WHAT?!" I screeched and Ginny winced.

"Yeah, so now you know and I'll be leaving." She said and ran out the door before I could say anything else.

What a day, I thought to myself as I climbed back into bed. Moments later I was fast asleep and dreaming about the familiar stranger that had visited just hours earlier.

The next morning I opened the shop and pulled up a stool behind the counter. I started to read one of my favorite Muggle books until the first customers started to stream in.

One of the first people into the store was none other than….Ron Weasley. He had that look on his face that I had come to know didn't mean good.

Before he could utter a word I said, "So how's Marietta?" The shocked look on his face was one that I would remember for years to come.

"How did you….Ginny! I'm gonna-" Ron's face turned the same shade of Weasley red that Ginny's had turned the night before.

"Ron! It's okay, I just wish that you would have told me before Ginny did." I said while giving a customer her change.

Just then the familiar stranger decided to walk in. He tipped an invisible hat to me and walked to the Muggle section of the store.

Ron left after apologizing for not telling me and as he was walking out the door Harry walked in with his wife, Padma. They each smiled at me before heading to the back of the store where I kept their orders of books.

As soon as they were out of my sight the stranger came up to me and stood in front of the counter as he did the night before. "Can I help you?" I asked, looking past him and waving the person behind him up to the counter so they could pay and leave.

"I was hoping that you would reconsider coming to dinner with me tonight, Miss Granger."

I was about to answer him when I realized that I hadn't told him my name last night. "How do you know my name?" I asked, giving the customer his book and waving goodbye to Harry and Padma.

A blush crept across his face and he started to stutter meaningless clips of sentences that didn't explain anything. He collected himself and started again. "You see, I did a little researching on your bookshop last night and came up with your name."

"Uh-huh and where did you get this information on my bookshop? I'm sure that there's no book written on it." I challenged.

"I asked the people in my neighborhood who had recommended it to me."

I sighed and sat down on the stool behind me. "If it will get you off of my back I might be free for lunch tomorrow."

A smile lit up his face and I instantly regretted offering to go out to lunch with him. I didn't want to lead him on for him only to get his feelings hurt later on. "Sounds like a date!" He said and the tone of his voice, just the way he said those four words, sounded so familiar to me.

_Flashback_

_It's almost the end of my seventh year and I'm studying in the library. Suddenly my book is pulled away from me and I find Draco standing there smiling, not a smirk but an honest-to-goodness smile. Catching me off guard I didn't have a witty remark and he took advantage of that. "We should go to Hogsmeade together tomorrow." He said which caught me even more off guard._

"_What's the catch Malfoy?" I asked, suspicious of his motives._

"_No catch, promise. Just me and you at Hogsmeade having the time of our lives." He smiled again and I thought it over. After a bit of hesitation I agreed. "Great, it sounds like a date!" He said and strutted out of the library with a kick in his step._

_End Flashback_

"Dra-" I stopped myself. This man wasn't Draco no matter how much he looked or acted like him. Draco Malfoy, my true love, was gone and he wasn't coming back.

"What?" He asked, a hopeful look dawning on his extremely pale and Draco-like face. "What did you just say?"

"Draco." I said tentatively. He smiled and grabbed me by the shoulders over the counter. "Will you please let go of me, sir?" His face fell and he removed his hands.

"I'm sorry, that was way out of line. Please forgive me." I nodded my head, still confused on why he acted that way.

Again an idea tickled the edge of my mind and when I looked deep into the man's eyes it swam before my eyes like a fish in the sea. (A/N: I know that line was cheesy but the original line was much cheesier, trust me.)

I didn't want to say anything unless I was wrong so I kept my mouth shut. And so it went for the next couple of weeks, he would come in, we would talk while he helped me run the shop, and every Saturday we would go out for lunch at a nearby café.

One Friday I couldn't hold my suspicions any longer so I turned to him once the store was empty and whispered, "Draco, is that you?"

His face lit up and I could feel the happiness radiating off of him. "Yes, it is! Finally you noticed! I've been dropping hints ever since I came in here that first night."

"I've known for a while but I was too afraid to say anything. Oh, Draco, I thought you were dead!" I cried and ran into his arms. I pulled back and slapped him across the face. "That's for not showing up sooner or at least letting me know that you weren't dead! Do you know how empty I felt when you were missing and most likely dead?"

He kissed me on the forehead. "I'm sorry, I wanted to but I wanted to make sure that it was safe for you to be with me again." I melted into his embrace once more and we stayed like that until we heard the bell tingle, signaling customers.

I turned to the door to find Ron standing there with his jaw dropped. "Hermione! How could you? You yell at me for not telling you about my relationship with Marietta and you have your own relationship with this stranger behind everyone's backs!"

"Ron, you don't understand!" I shouted but he had already left the shop.

I sunk down on the stool and put my head in my hands. "Now they're all gonna hate me. They were all there to comfort me after you went missing and now they all hate me." Draco rubbed my back until the bell tinkled again.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny stood there. "Guys, before you say anything this is not what it looks like." I watched Ron roll his eyes and I could feel my temper rising. "Ronald, would you hear me out! This isn't what you think it is. Yes I do love this man and it's not new but you all know about it already."

Ginny was the first to catch on. "Really?" she breathed and I nodded. She ran over and hugged me. "I know how good that must feel Mione." She said while the two boys just looked at me, dumbstruck.

"Mione, what it she talking about. You haven't been in a relationship that we've known about since… you're kidding, is he really?" I nodded and Harry also gave me a congratulatory hug.

"Will you people please tell me what is going on here?" Ron yelled and we all laughed.

"Hey Weasel." Draco dropped the hint and Ron reddened, realizing what was going on.

"Ferret, I mean Draco." He amended when he got a sharp look from me. Draco nodded and he turned a deeper shade of red than usual.

We closed the shop and Ginny insisted on throwing a small party. Weeks later he moved into my flat above my shop and proposed. In a few weeks we are to be married and I will officially be Hermione Malfoy.

Now if anyone were to come up to me on the streets and tell me that I was going to meet the love of my life in a few weeks I would still check them into St. Mungo's because the love of my life is waiting for me with a lovely homemade dinner at my flat.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think! I think it was pretty good but if you have any suggestions to make it better please let me know! Basketballstarhottie out!


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